A blog on technology, run by Kozminski University students and supervised by NeRDS

E-sport means gaming?

When we talk about e-sport we imagine immediately guys in front of the computers who are playing CS Go, LOL or StarCraft. What about traditional meaning of ‘sport’? Is it possible to organize online sport competition and attract people to take part in it?

Various sports disciplines are used technical facilities such as measuring devices, additional referee who are only tracking recordings instead of the real game and have possibilities to replay it again. On the Internet, there are possibilities for consultation, purchase training plans, hiring an online coach.

DigitalCup is a great example of this trend: very innovative, uses modern technology and devoted to the reality. In 2012 the website was established. It offers online competition in four different equestrian disciplines: jumping, dressage, eventing (horse trials) and reining. On its website, it is posted a competition proposal with a required program. After paying the entry fee, the riders record the videos with their trials. Then they send it back and the video is assessed by the experts. After one or two weeks the results are announced, the awards handed out and every rider gets feedback about his trial.

https://evrythng.com/?attachment_id=960

Why is it working?

Horse riding is very expensive. It requires costly equipment, special infrastructure, an appropriate horse which can be rented or bought. If the rider wants to participate in a competition he needs to incur additional costs: entry fee, transportation costs, medical examination, registration in the association. Besides, participate in a competition involves a lot of stress for both rider and horse. Horses taking part in the competition must undergo a long and arduous training before they leave home stables. The horses act differently in a new place, can be disobedient and cause problems.

What is the future of sport?

In the digital age we are forced to redefine certain aspects of our lives. This also applies to sport. Is it means that Olympic Games 2040 we will watch only on YouTube and sportsman will not even leave their hometowns? Or rivalry and emotion will turn out more important than money and convenience?

8 thoughts on “E-sport means gaming?”

I really like this idea 🙂 It encourages a lot of people to compete who normally would not be able to participate in it BUT… I have one doubt – How the experts are going to check if people are not cheating for example while jumping? On a video it is impossible to see if it is exactly what people claim (the height ) or the identity of the rider?

It is a good question because I don’t know the answer. 🙂
I guess that the awards are not so high and the whole idea is for amateur riders, so fun and experience are in the first place.
I will try to check it.

I think that future of sport is very uncertain now but it definitely won’t look like nowadays. Human body has its limits and we pretty much acheived them. Without medication and doping it’s impossible to be faster, jump higher and throw further. I think future sport might be more about robots but also it can include human non-physical abilities.

What an interesting article! It really made me think. Honestly I believe that for many sports this won’t work simply because people will find ways to cheat and it will take away the fun. As an athlete when you work so hard for years towards and event one of the biggest rewards is to face your opponent eye to eye and whoop his butt. Off course it could help especially the athletes that get very nervous and the nerves limit their ability to perform. However I think that nerves are a part of the “job” in the sport industry you need to learn how to handle and deal with it. If you can’t your simply not cut out for the job.

In traditional sport we also have problems with cheating. Sportsmen improve their results every year, nevertheless evolution isn’t progressing so fast! It means that part of them use illegal substances despite the drug tests (Lance Armstrong).

It is true that people have limits and always we want to exceed them and because we achieve what we could we take illegal drugs,because it is only way to become someone in sport world. Famous amstron of course but what about legal drugs like for asthma to gain more strength? It is illegal and unfair

I love this idea! You do not have worry about the weather conditions etc. However, I cannot imagine Olympic Games to be just on YouTube… What makes them so special is the atmosphere, the fact that the whole world meets in one place. For me, it would be sad to watch separate sportsmen in different places.

The idea was present in sports for at least last 20 years in the sports where a score is easily measurable. Once in primary school, I remember that my swimming times were transferred via telephone to some office and then compared with times of other participants. It was used in elimination round before actual competition. Although I was allowed to try only once I can not be sure that my opponents didn’t try multiple times or even that their times were improved by someone measuring the time(this would be visible in actual race).
The second thing is a lack of the atmosphere of the venue. that is why even in actual e-sport (gaming) there are organized big championships where teams or player face each other on one stage.